“You bastard,” he yelled, smiling. “Actually, it’s not so bad.”
“Bye Jimmy!” Maverick waved, and she stepped away from the railing with Bishop.
Jimmy started screaming until she picked up a rope and slung it over the side to fish him out of the water. With Jimmy’s robes dripping wet, they gathered around the place the NPC dumped them at and waited.
Soon, the entire group was back on the dock, watching the ships all catch fire one after the other, breaking the barricaded harbor.
“You have done well,” the NPC stated. “I thank you for what you have done for us and for all of Samar.” He held out his hand and Arthur shook it, turning in the quests for the group.
Dinging echoed in Bishop’s ears as he received more rep for Hillside and coins clinked into his bags.
You have reached level 23.
“About time,” Jimmy grunted. “That didn’t take as long as I thought. Anyone up for doing the other one, too?”
“Think we have time?” Benji asked.
“Please say yes. I need to make up for my lack of participation,” Giles said, fingering his bow nervously.
“I think we have time.” Bishop brought up the instance finder again and searched for Falls of the Siren. “It’s sirens again. You ready, Jimmy?”
“I will be just fine, thank you very much. How about we see if the rest of you can keep up?”
Bishop selected his role as DPS again, as Jimmy and Benji bantered about the sirens and him falling prey to their song again. If they finished the second instance for the area today, then tomorrow they could head straight to Burning Glade. He needed to speak with Tavin and Bronson. But more so, he wanted to track down Winston and figure out a way to get the Royal Guard commander, or former commander, out of trouble without putting their tiny guild in danger.
His stomach gave a tug and Bishop was whisked away from the docks to a pool near a very familiar waterfall. He whistled for Willy, since they would be staying on land at least.
“Ready for some sushi?” he asked the wolf.
He swore Willy smiled back at him, tail wagging as he trotted to the edge of the lake.
Chapter 14
Bishop strolled beside Calista on the road towards Burning Glade. They finished exploring the rest of the small territory before making their way here, and they were all close to being level 24 from turning in various quests they picked up along the way.
The road eastward was littered with herbs and wood for some of their members to harvest and resupply their stash. He asked Calista if she was spending too much time away from her shop, but there was a system within the game that let her still receive orders for goods without having to be at the shop.
“Besides, I would much rather be out here with you guys then cooped up in a shop alone,” she’d told him that morning before they set out, and he couldn’t say he blamed her.
Leaving Weston, Bishop watched as the royal guards they passed on each level eyed him and the other half-breeds closely, too closely for his liking. If they weren’t careful, they were going to have all of Weston breathing down their necks soon.
Thankfully, moving away from the major hub meant less royal guards. Most of the villages and towns they passed through had their own militia made up of veteran soldiers who did not seem too keen on following orders from men they could not see for themselves.
“I think we’re here,” Jimmy announced, as they walked around the bend in the road.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” Maverick moved ahead, sniffing the air. “Listen.”
They stopped on the road facing the humble dwellings and fell silent. Bishop frowned. Usually, when approaching a town, there were calls from sellers at the market, children running around at play, or people gossiping… Yet, here there was nothing. Not even birds singing or bugs buzzing around in the tall grass lining the road.
“Weapons up, people,” Bishop whispered. “Maverick, Arthur, we’ll follow your lead. Calista, Sorgon, flank them. The rest of us, fall back a ways.”
Bishop and Giles mirrored each other, holding their bows before them. Benji and Jimmy stayed by their sides, and Shamus and Sorgon brought up the rear. Willy walked beside Bishop, hackles raised, but not making any sound.
Whatever happened here left an impression on the very nature of its surroundings. None of the homes appeared damaged until they were further into town and Bishop noticed the wooden doors yanked off their hinges. Claw marks and hoof prints marred the dirt at their feet, piles of chains were dumped precariously throughout the town center.
And not a soul was to be found.
“What happened here?” Calista asked, her grip tightening on her ax and mace. “Where are all the people?”
Bishop shook his head at a loss. It was beyond eerie; it was sad. Every village in this game so far had been well populated with a range of races and ages. And to think of them all taken away, NPCs or not, was devastating. Bishop sent Willy around to sniff and search for clues, but it was Maverick who held up a hand.
“Found something,” she said, and she bent down to pick something up off the ground. Bishop moved in closer to make out a hand-made doll clutched in her fingers. “A doll. There were kids here. They took the kids.” She flinched and Bishop saw the prompt appear in front of her face. “Oh no.”
She shared the quest with the others and Bishop’s heart sank. “Look alive, people. We have villagers to save.”
Accepted Quest: Where Have All the People Gone? The villagers have been taken captive by Demon Lord Mortagh’s slaver demons. Find clues to pick up their trail and rescue them before it is too late.
“Mortagh. I guess he’s our next Demon Lord we get to fight?” Jimmy asked.
“Probably, but this isn’t a dungeon. There’s no raid marker by the quest.”
Bishop inwardly sighed in relief. He wasn’t up for another dungeon so soon. Clues to where the people were taken started in the town square, and Willy sniffed around the footprints in the dirt. They found a few more bits and bobs dropped by the villagers as they were torn away from their homes and, most likely, chained together.
Staying together, they followed the tracks away from the center of town, the drag marks of chains in between them, and left by a road heading north. Bishop pulled up the map, but since they hadn’t explored that far up yet, there was no indication of what they might find.
He assumed there would be a camp of some sort, and he hoped for Jimmy’s sake they wouldn’t have to go into any caves or mines to rescue the people. The tracks veered off the trail and Willy led the way into the dense forest, nose to the ground and fur raised, on the hunt for the villagers and their attackers. No one spoke a word and the eerie silence followed them out of the village. Bishop watched his feet, afraid to step on a stick and have the resounding crack shatter the quiet pressing in around them.
Willy came to a sudden halt, pointing with his nose straight ahead. Bishop couldn’t see anything through the foliage, but the deep rumbling of voices came through and cries of others. They were close, very close. He held up his hand for everyone to stop, and he used his Demon Sight ability to try and get an idea of the mess they were about to walk into.
His ability lifted him above the trees and he soared over the swaying branches, searching for the demons down below. Smoke drifted up blurring his sight, but he shifted around it and hovered over a large camp crawling with cloven foot demons, all heavily armed. He counted at least ten groupings, leveled between 23 and 25. Metallic cages dotted the camp, filled with people he assumed all came from Burning Glade. One cage held all children, and Bishop’s fists clenched in rage as his vision slowly returned to normal.
“What is it?” Calista asked, as he blinked to clear his blurred vision.
“They have the villagers in cages. I didn’t get an exact number, but I’d say at least thirty demons. I bet we have to get keys from them to unlock the cages and set the villagers free.”
“We start at one end of the camp and move around,” Mav
erick stated. “It’s the simplest plan.”
“I didn’t see any commanders or generals,” Bishop informed them. “Some are level twenty-five, but we should be able to take them on without too much trouble. Benji, you’re our healer man, you got this?”
Benji shook out his hands and buffed himself to increase his mana for a few minutes. “Yeah, I can do this. We’re going to do great, absolutely great.”
Bishop waited for Maverick to shift. Then, she, Calista, and Arthur pushed through the underbrush with Willy, reaching the edge of the camp, and paused as they searched for the easiest point of access into the camp. A few of the demons lingered on the outskirts and Bishop motioned for him and Giles to pull them, carefully, and get them out of the way.
Giles set a trap beside them, just in case, and he and Bishop fired their Instant Shots. Bishop followed his up with Increased Swift Bow as the two demons barreled towards them. Shamus and Sorgon drew another two away from the edges of the camp. And as Bishop’s dropped a few feet from his position, Giles stepped a few feet further along and aimed for another.
They cleared the outskirts of the camp on the right side and moved around to the northern end. There, the ground rose, forming a small hill which let them peer into the camp. Three cages were close by, but they hadn’t gathered any keys yet to use on them.
“That grouping there,” Calista whispered, pointing to the right of the cages. “Think we can pull them without drawing the one next to them?”
Bishop wanted to say yes, but he doubted it. They were close. “Aggro the one farthest away. See what happens. We’ll give you cover.”
Arthur stood and, targeting the monster closest to them, yelled. The demons in that group immediately closed in on him and charged. Unfortunately, the group right beside them was pulled too, increasing the wave to ten demons.
Bishop, now on his feet with Giles, unleashed his Rain of Thorns AOE to deal out bleeds. After that, he targeted the demon trying to sneak up behind Arthur, but the beast whirled around, chucking an axe at his chest. Bishop grunted and flew backwards as it hit him, knocking his health down nearly half. Of course, he would pull the level 25 demon that could throw axes!
Benji was busy healing the tanks, so Bishop hurried to drain a health potion. He barely managed to get any of it down that the demon was on him. Bishop brought up his bow to block the attack. And in so doing, he missed the demon’s leg swiping out, taking him to the ground. Bishop cursed as he used his bow again and again to block the hits, desperately reaching for his dagger to fend off the attacks.
He was very low on health when he managed to Slash at the demon’s thighs. The beast roared, sinking to one leg, giving Bishop his chance to regain his feet. The hunter drew back on his bow, standing barely a foot from the demon, and he unleashed Increased Swift Blow, followed by his Stunning Blow. The demon was trapped, down on one knee. Execute was all it took to finish him off.
“Bishop, you alright?” Benji called out, as the tanks took care of the last few demons.
“I’m good. Save your mana,” he said, bending over to catch his breath. He pulled out a health potion and finished it this time. His health shot back up to nearly full bar, and he gave Willy a pat on the head as the wolf trotted to his side, checking on him. “We got this, don’t worry.”
He looted the demon and grinned.
You have received: One Ornate Cage Key.
“Got one,” he announced, showing the item. “Anyone else?”
Arthur and Giles also held up keys. Slowly, they slid down the slope to the cages and unlocked them, remaining careful to keep a fair distance away from the demons prowling close-by.
The villagers thanked them in hushed tones and rushed past their group, up the slope, disappearing into the trees towards the village.
“Three down,” Jimmy said.
“And what, five to go?” Arthur asked, peering through the camp. “Did you see that tent down there? What do you want to bet there’s a big ole bastard in there somewhere?”
“I’d bet on those odds.” Bishop fingered the string at his bow. “Left or right?”
They managed to save the remaining villagers and kill off every demon in the camp before too long. Bishop was just thinking this quest was far too easy, too boring compared to the previous ones, when the flap to the large tent gusted open. A large demon, nearly fifteen feet tall with a long thick tail and wings, stomped out to greet them. The name hovering above his head said Commander Zanish. The big brute clutched a sickle-shaped sword in one hand and a ball of emerald fire swirled in the palm of his other, eyes flashing green with his fury.
“You dare defy my Lord Mortagh?” the demon snarled. “You will be punished for your crimes!”
“Guys, I can’t see his level,” Calista hissed.
“I can’t either,” Bishop said, and he stepped back. “This is bad. Were we supposed to leave before he came out?”
His gut twisted with worry. Would Valen make an appearance and finally go after his friends, as he feared she would do all along? They could run but, if they didn’t complete the quest, they would have to come back.
“If we can’t see his level, we’re not meant to kill him, right?” Jimmy asked.
Bishop opened his mouth to agree when Commander Zanish flung the fire at them, roaring so loud it shook the tree branches around them. Bishop threw himself to the ground as he yelled, “Duck! Stay out of the fire!”
A few screamed in pain, and even Bishop couldn’t escape the flames entirely. The fire grazed his back as he pressed himself flatter. He rolled over, wiggling in the dirt to put the flames out.
Beside him, Calista patted out the flames on her breeches, mirroring others trying to preserve their gear.
Bishop watched as Maverick lumbered forward and built up one of her special attacks to pounce on the demon. Their enemy merely spun, his tail rushing around and catching Maverick’s beast form in the shoulder. She soared over their heads and slammed into a nearby tree, sinking to the ground.
“Mayday, captain!” Jimmy hollered to Bishop. “This bastard’s going to kill us!”
Bishop didn’t know how to respond. If Maverick couldn’t even get close, there wasn’t a chance any of them would be able to dish out enough damage to make a dent. They had to run and come back when they figured it out.
Searching for the best way out of the camp, Bishop pushed to his hands and knees, but the ground rumbled beneath him and he froze.
Commander Zanish’s leer fell and his eyes widened. Bishop had never seen fear on a demon’s face before, and this one was truly terrified. The fire died in its hand and, as the rumbling grew louder, knocking them all back down to the ground, he sank to one knee and bowed his head in submission.
Green fire erupted around the camp, trapping them all in with the demon. The ground cracked and split open, much as it had during Bishop’s very first instance in this game.
“You have failed me, Commander Zanish,” a growling voice roared, as a large being made completely of shadows burst through the crack in the ground. Wings spread so wide it blocked out the sky, the being Bishop assumed was Demon Lord Mortagh set his massive body down, his cloven feet digging into the dirt. “Where are my slaves, Zanish? Where are my souls?”
“I am sorry, my Lord. The heroes, they saved them all—”
“Mortals? You let mortals take my slaves from your grasp!” Mortagh’s hand reached down and picked up Zanish in his grasp. “You have failed me for the last time, Commander.”
The demon struggled to get out of Mortagh’s grip but, one squeeze later, he was hanging limp in the giant fingers, his bones crunched. Bishop grimaced, looking away from this sickening sight.
“You may have won this fight,” Mortagh told the heroes, “but you will not defeat me. The Burning Glade is yours, for now.” He turned his massive body around and pumped his wings, ready to fly back through the crevice. Before he let them be, though, his green penetrating gaze landed on Bishop. “You, I have a message for you fr
om my Queen. Give in now or, soon, she will lose patience and rain hell down upon you and your fellows.”
Bishop swallowed around the lump in his throat as Mortagh’s body flew up into the sky and then soared straight into the crevice. He vanished, and a part of the flames around the camp went out so they could exit. Bishop let Jimmy pull him to his feet and drag him out.
“That was insane.” Jimmy ran his hands through his hair, eyes wide. “Did you see that monster? Is she really the next Demon Lord?”
“I think so. Did you notice what his wings were made out of?” Maverick asked, as she shifted back. “Shadows, Jimmy, I wonder if the demon you call to your side has anything to do with him. We’re going to have to watch that ability of yours. Have you purified yourself recently?”
He cringed. “Not yet. I was waiting!”
“Let’s get back to the village and check on the people,” Arthur said. “We can turn in this quest and see if they know anything about this Mortagh. Bishop? You alright, you look pale?”
“Perfect, just another threat from Valen, nothing new there.”
“Yeah, we all heard it, but she didn’t show up so we’re good.” Calista slipped her hand into his. “Come on, let’s get to the village and we’ll figure out our next move from there.”
He followed behind the rest of his group, trying to stop himself from glancing back over his shoulder. A whispered voice brushed his ears and his feet tripped over themselves as he whirled around to stare back at the camp.
“Bishop?”
“Nothing,” he replied quickly and smiled. “Sorry, just thought I heard something.”
Calista didn’t believe him, but she didn’t push him. Why did he want to go back? Something called to him.
No, someone is calling to you. She wants you with her and that crevice is too damn close for comfort. What would happen if he fell through it?
A sudden longing filled him to do just that, but then they were at the village, and the cheers pulled his attention away from the pit and the voice beckoning him ever closer.
Chapter 15
Necromancers, Demons & Kings: A LitRPG Epic (World of Samar Book 2) Page 22
